ive wanted "tomodachi" or 友達 (friends), tattooed in kanji for a while now because i care about my friends and family more than anything in the world. I have family in a japan so i travel there frequently. I have the feeling that any kanji tattoos are looked at as stupid for a foreigner to have, regardless what they say. That leads me to my question. Do you think i would look like a 馬鹿外人 (dumb foreigner) if i got this tattoo? I plan to get it somewhere on my torso/back so it can be easily covered up, plus it wont be very big. Give it to me straight what you think.

mm personally I'd never get a tattoo, but if you feel compelled- might I recommend going a slightly different approach if friendship is what's important to you?

'友情' (friendship) might be a less straight-forward/ elegant way of showing what's important to you. If someone just sees "friend" plastered somewhere on you it might not give the same impression. If I saw "friend" on someone I'd wonder if they were trying to tell me they were not my enemy . This is just my opinion.

That article was written by the Old Guard, most of which has left or become inactive by now (I'm just dropping in, myself), so the title of the article might not be so accurate now. The article is still worth a read, though.